Did You Know? (Agassiz Rock)

Photos by E.J. Lefavour

That Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz (May 28, 1807 – December 14, 1873) was a paleontologist, glaciologist, geologist and a prominent innovator in the study of the Earth’s natural history? In 1837 Agassiz was the first to scientifically propose that the Earth had been subject to a past ice age. He grew up in Switzerland and became a professor of natural history at University of Neuchâtel. Later, he accepted a professorship at Harvard University.  In addition to Agassiz Rock in Manchester, a crater on Mars and a promontorium on the Moon are also named in his honour, as well as a number of mountains, glaciers, glacial lakes, and animal species.  He was also the professor of Alpheus Hyatt of Annisquam who founded the Hyatt Seaside Laboratory, which later became the Woods Hole Marine Laboratory.

Big and Little Agassiz Rocks are dramatic examples of giant boulders plucked from bedrock and carried far away by the last glacier. A short loop trail leads you up Beaverdam Hill where Little Agassiz Rock emerges as a giant granite monolith silhouetted against the sky. A short distance away, other boulders lie perched on the edge of this glaciated upland. Below, in a small shrub swamp, rests 30-foot-tall Big Agassiz Rock. No one knows how far below the ground it is buried.

As the glaciers scoured this landscape, the mass of bedrock forming the hill proved more resistant than the surrounding soil, forcing the bottom of the glacier up and over the hill. The north side was smoothed and the south side left steep and rugged as the glacier broke off chunks of rock as it passed.

Trails
1-mile loop trail (moderate hiking) takes in both Big and Little Agassiz Rocks. Following long periods of rain, when the water table is high, the immediate area surrounding Big Agassiz Rock can be flooded.

When to Visit
Open year-round, daily, sunrise to sunset. Allow a minimum of 1 hour.  On School Street (Exit 15) exit off 128 heading toward Essex, ½ mile from highway on right you will see sign and small parking area.

From Wikipedia and http://www.thetrustees.org/places-to-visit/northeast-ma/agassiz-rock.html